Philippine Civil Code Provisions PDF

**Article 1423\ **Obligations are civil or natural. Civil obligations give a right of action to compel their performance. Natural obligations, not being based on positive law but on equity and natural law, do not grant a right of action to enforce their performance, but after voluntary fulfillment b...

**Article 1423\ **Obligations are civil or natural. Civil obligations give a right of action to compel their performance. Natural obligations, not being based on positive law but on equity and natural law, do not grant a right of action to enforce their performance, but after voluntary fulfillment by the obligor, they authorize the retention of what has been delivered or rendered by reason thereof. Some natural obligations are set forth in the following articles. **CHAPTER 1**\ **GENERAL PROVISIONS** **Art. 1156**. An obligation is a juridical necessity to give, to do or not to do. **Art. 1157.** Obligations arise from: \(1) Law; \(2) Contracts; \(3) Quasi-contracts; \(4) Acts or omissions punished by law; and  \(5) Quasi-delicts. **Art. 1158.** Obligations derived from law are not presumed. Only those expressly determined in this Code or in special laws are demandable, and shall be regulated by the precepts of the law which establishes them; and as to what has not been foreseen, by the provisions of this Book. **Art. 1159**. Obligations arising from contracts have the force of law between the contracting parties and should be complied with in good faith. **CHAPTER 2** **NATURE AND EFFECT OF OBLIGATIONS** **Art. 1163.** Every person obliged to give something is also obliged to take care of it with the proper diligence of a good father of a family, unless the law or the stipulation of the parties requires another standard of care. **Art. 1164.** The creditor has a right to the fruits of the thing from the time the obligation to deliver it arises. However, he shall acquire no real right over it until the same has been delivered to him. **Art. 1165.** When what is to be delivered is a determinate thing, the creditor, in addition to the right granted him by Article 1170, may compel the debtor to make the delivery. If the thing is indeterminate or generic, he may ask that the obligation be complied with at the expense of the debtor. If the obligor delays, or has promised to deliver the same thing to two or more persons who do not have the same interest, he shall be responsible for any fortuitous event until he has effected the delivery. **Art. 1166.** The obligation to give a determinate thing includes that of delivering all its accessions and accessories, even though they may not have been mentioned. **Art. 1169.** Those obliged to deliver or to do something incur in delay from the time the obligee judicially or extrajudicially demands from them the fulfillment of their obligation. However, the demand by the creditor shall not be necessary in order that delay may exist: \(1) When the obligation or the law expressly so declare; or \(2) When from the nature and the circumstances of the obligation it appears that the designation of the time when the thing is to be delivered or the service is to be rendered was a controlling motive for the establishment of the contract; or \(3) When demand would be useless, as when the obligor has rendered it beyond his power to perform. In reciprocal obligations, neither party incurs in delay if the other does not comply or is not ready to comply in a proper manner with what is incumbent upon him. From the moment one of the parties fulfills his obligation, delay by the other begins. **Art. 1170.** Those who in the performance of their obligations are guilty of fraud, negligence, or delay, and those who in any manner contravene the tenor thereof, are liable for damages. **Art. 1173.** The fault or negligence of the obligor consists in the omission of that diligence which is required by the nature of the obligation and corresponds with the circumstances of the persons, of the time and of the place. When negligence shows bad faith, the provisions of Articles 1171 and 2201, paragraph 2, shall apply. If the law or contract does not state the diligence which is to be observed in the performance, that which is expected of a good father of a family shall be required. **Art. 1174.** Except in cases expressly specified by the law, or when it is otherwise declared by stipulation, or when the nature of the obligation requires the assumption of risk, no person shall be responsible for those events which could not be foreseen, or which, though foreseen, were inevitable. **Art. 1177.** The creditors, after having pursued the property in possession of the debtor to satisfy their claims, may exercise all the rights and bring all the actions of the latter for the same purpose, save those which are inherent in his person; they may also impugn the acts which the debtor may have done to defraud them. **CHAPTER 3** **DIFFERENT KINDS OF OBLIGATIONS** **SECTION 1. - Pure and Conditional Obligations** **Art. 1179.** Every obligation whose performance does not depend upon a future or uncertain event, or upon a past event unknown to the parties, is demandable at once. Every obligation which contains a resolutory condition shall also be demandable, without prejudice to the effects of the happening of the event. **Art. 1180.** When the debtor binds himself to pay when his means permit him to do so, the obligation shall be deemed to be one with a period, subject to the provisions of Article 1197. **SECTION 2. - Obligations with a Period** **Art. 1193.** Obligations for whose fulfillment a day certain has been fixed, shall be demandable only when that day comes. Obligations with a resolutory period take effect at once, but terminate upon arrival of the day certain. A day certain is understood to be that which must necessarily come, although it may not be known when. If the uncertainty consists in whether the day will come or not, the obligation is conditional, and it shall be regulated by the rules of the preceding Section. **Art. 1196.** Whenever in an obligation a period is designated, it is presumed to have been established for the benefit of both the creditor and the debtor, unless from the tenor of the same or other circumstances it should appear that the period has been established in favor of one or of the other. **Art. 1198.** The debtor shall lose every right to make use of the period: \(1) When after the obligation has been contracted, he becomes insolvent, unless he gives a guaranty or security for the debt; \(2) When he does not furnish to the creditor the guaranties or securities which he has promised; \(3) When by his own acts he has impaired said guaranties or securities after their establishment, and when through a fortuitous event they disappear, unless he immediately gives new ones equally satisfactory; \(4) When the debtor violates any undertaking, in consideration of which the creditor agreed to the period; \(5) When the debtor attempts to abscond. **SECTION 4. - Joint and Solidary Obligations** **Art. 1207.** The concurrence of two or more creditors or of two or more debtors in one and the same obligation does not imply that each one of the former has a right to demand, or that each one of the latter is bound to render, entire compliance with the prestation. There is a solidary liability only when the obligation expressly so states, or when the law or the nature of the obligation requires solidarity. **Art. 1208.** If from the law, or the nature or the wording of the obligations to which the preceding article refers the contrary does not appear, the credit or debt shall be presumed to be divided into as many shares as there are creditors or debtors, the credits or debts being considered distinct from one another, subject to the Rules of Court governing the multiplicity of suits. **Art. 1211.** Solidarity may exist although the creditors and the debtors may not be bound in the same manner and by the same periods and conditions. **Art. 1213**. A solidary creditor cannot assign his rights without the consent of the others. **SECTION 6. - Obligations with a Penal Clause** **Art. 1226**. In obligations with a penal clause, the penalty shall substitute the indemnity for damages and the payment of interests in case of noncompliance, if there is no stipulation to the contrary. Nevertheless, damages shall be paid if the obligor refuses to pay the penalty or is guilty of fraud in the fulfillment of the obligation. The penalty may be enforced only when it is demandable in accordance with the provisions of this Code. Art. 1230. The nullity of the penal clause does not carry with it that of the principal obligation. The nullity of the principal obligation carries with it that of the penal clause. (1155) **CHAPTER 4** **EXTINGUISHMENT OF OBLIGATIONS** **GENERAL PROVISIONS** **Art. 1231.** Obligations are extinguished: \(1) By payment or performance: \(2) By the loss of the thing due: \(3) By the condonation or remission of the debt; \(4) By the confusion or merger of the rights of creditor and debtor; \(5) By compensation; \(6) By novation. Other causes of extinguishment of obligations, such as annulment, rescission, fulfillment of a resolutory condition, and prescription, are governed elsewhere in this Code. **SECTION 1. - Payment or Performance** **Art. 1232.** Payment means not only the delivery of money but also the performance, in any other manner, of an obligation. **Art. 1236.** The creditor is not bound to accept payment or performance by a third person who has no interest in the fulfillment of the obligation, unless there is a stipulation to the contrary. Whoever pays for another may demand from the debtor what he has paid, except that if he paid without the knowledge or against the will of the debtor, he can recover only insofar as the payment has been beneficial to the debtor. **Art. 1237.** Whoever pays on behalf of the debtor without the knowledge or against the will of the latter, cannot compel the creditor to subrogate him in his rights, such as those arising from a mortgage, guaranty, or penalty.  **Art. 1249.** The payment of debts in money shall be made in the currency stipulated, and if it is not possible to deliver such currency, then in the currency which is legal tender in the Philippines. The delivery of promissory notes payable to order, or bills of exchange or other mercantile documents shall produce the effect of payment only when they have been cashed, or when through the fault of the creditor they have been impaired. In the meantime, the action derived from the original obligation shall be held in the abeyance. **SUBSECTION 1. - Application of Payments** **Art. 1253.** If the debt produces interest, payment of the principal shall not be deemed to have been made until the interests have been covered.  **SUBSECTION 3. - Tender of Payment and Consignation** **Art. 1256.** If the creditor to whom tender of payment has been made refuses without just cause to accept it, the debtor shall be released from responsibility by the consignation of the thing or sum due. Consignation alone shall produce the same effect in the following cases: \(1) When the creditor is absent or unknown, or does not appear at the place of payment; \(2) When he is incapacitated to receive the payment at the time it is due; \(3) When, without just cause, he refuses to give a receipt; \(4) When two or more persons claim the same right to collect; \(5) When the title of the obligation has been lost.  **SECTION 2. - Loss of the Thing Due** **Art. 1262.** An obligation which consists in the delivery of a determinate thing shall be extinguished if it should be lost or destroyed without the fault of the debtor, and before he has incurred in delay. When by law or stipulation, the obligor is liable even for fortuitous events, the loss of the thing does not extinguish the obligation, and he shall be responsible for damages. The same rule applies when the nature of the obligation requires the assumption of risk. **Art. 1263.** In an obligation to deliver a generic thing, the loss or destruction of anything of the same kind does not extinguish the obligation. **Art. 1265.** Whenever the thing is lost in the possession of the debtor, it shall be presumed that the loss was due to his fault, unless there is proof to the contrary, and without prejudice to the provisions of article 1165. This presumption does not apply in case of earthquake, flood, storm, or other natural calamity.